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Sevenoaks Swimming Club swimmer, Jaedon Lynch 12 yrs, has been selected to represent Jamaica in the 2018 Caribbean Swimming Championships to be held in Kingston, Jamaica over 29th March to 3rd April 2018 as part of the Carifta Games 2018. The CARIFTA Games is an annual athletics and swimming competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). The games were first held in 1972 and only countries associated with CARIFTA may compete in the competition. Previous competitors include superstars such as Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake.

Jaedon started swimming at the age of 5 and joined Sevenoaks from Dartford Swimming Club in March 2017. He is ranked in the top 3 for all the events he has qualified for at the Carifta’s and is in a strong position to bring home Gold medals in many events. He is currently the fastest qualifier for 100 Back, 50/100/200 Breast, 50/100/200 fly and 200 IM. Jaedon will be competing in the 11-12 year old category against swimmers from 27 Caribbean countries. He qualifies through his parents and as he holds dual nationality for Jamaica and the UK.

Last Saturday, Aquatic Sports of Jamaica (ASAJ) announced the team which includes 12 overseas-based swimmers and 15 debutants most of whom will compete in the 11-12 age group, including Jaedon.He received the invitation this week to represent Jamaica from the National Coach. ASAJ president Martin Lyn believes the 36 chosen swimmers represent the best of the current active swimmers down to compete in all events, as the selection committee had a very difficult task of narrowing the list.

A swimmer qualifies for national (international age group swimming events) selection by achieving AA time standard or higher in at least two events and must be ranked first or second place in those events.

“Jamaica has proposed one of the strongest teams that we have ever fielded for a Carifta Swimming Championships; the fact that we will be hosts allows us to name a lot of swimmers this time around …..so that is good for us,” Lyn told the Jamaica Observer yesterday.

“Our younger age group indicates that we definitely have depth in Jamaican aquatics and the objective of swimming at home is to ensure that we use home court to our advantage. That, coupled with the fact that we have some strong members on the team, means we can look forward to positive results from our athletes.”

Sevenoaks Swimming Club wishes Jaedon the very best of luck during the competition and look forward to hearing of his undoubted success on his return. The whole Club is incredibly proud of his achievement.

Sevenoaks Swimming Club were once again proud to host the John Carrie Memorial Shield Gala on 3rd March at Sevenoaks Leisure Centre. The evening was a fine and fitting tribute to such a stalwart of Sevenoaks Swimming. The icing on the cake was a resounding win for Sevenoaks against strong swimmers from other local invited Clubs.

The gala is an annual event held in memory of John Carrie who held numerous high ranking roles within the sport, both locally and regionally and was a staunch supporter of Sevenoaks becoming first a Committee member, then Treasurer, and later Chairman of the Club (with his wife, Pat, as Club Secretary) until 1989 when both of them were made Life Vice Presidents of Sevenoaks on their retirement from the Committee.

The evening is as much fun as it is competitive, and the swimmers are usually a mixture of ages and ability with the emphasis on allowing some of the less regular competitive swimmers an opportunity to perform.

Of the 51 events in total, Sevenoaks managed a fantastic 29 1st Places with 9 time faults.

On the evening of Saturday 24th February, Sevenoaks Swimming Club took part in the second round of the Tudor League. The Tudor League provides an opportunity for swimmers to represent the club and swim competitively. Upper time limits are present for each event to ensure that Clubs do not enter their fastest swimmers, therefore letting the less experienced and younger swimmers have a go. Those swimmers who exceed the upper time limits are disqualified.

The Tudor league normally takes place at Eltham Leisure Centre and there are six galas spread out during the first 6 months of the Year.

A superb team effort saw Sevenoaks come 2nd overall to Bexley in a closely fought contest. There were numerous PB's from the swimmers - including for Ines Gascoyne-Day in her Tudor League debut. She stormed to 1st place in 50 free in a superb time of 35.95sec. Other fabulous swims came from rising star, Devon Tannock where he won the 50 fly in a time of 43.16sec. The whole team swam superbly but there were notable swims from Freya Ashdown, Max Cooper and James Fry. Overall, it was a fantastic team performance and the swimmers did themselves proud. The 3rd round of the Tudor League is March 24th where Sevenoaks will be pushing to take first place.

Congratulations to Alex Armstrong and David Gentles who have recently passed their officials' qualifications. Alex is now a qualified J1 and David is a J2. They will each be presented with a SSC Officials shirt when it becomes available later this spring.

Please speak to them if you would like more information on what is involved, or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for information on how to enrol on the next course.

Sevenoaks SC swimmers Zoë Naylor-Perrott (15) and Maddy Glen (14) have just returned from Edinburgh where they swam at the British Swimming Championships a meet that is the epitome of high performance swimming. Over 500 competitors travelled from all corners of the UK to swim in this prestigious event. Races took place over four days in conjunction with the Edinburgh International Swim Meet 2018.

Although tough qualification times were set, Zoë qualified to swim in the 50m backstroke, 50m freestyle and 50m butterfly. Maddy qualified for the 50, 100 and 200 metre breaststroke. This was the first time the girls had qualified to swim at the British Championships and were among the youngest competitors to compete. They were both honoured to be on the same starting line-up as many national, international and Olympic swimmers, including Adam Peaty, James Guy and Siobhan Marie O’Connor.

With the arrival of snow, Zoë was able to fly out before the airports closed on Wednesday morning and found herself in the same warm up lane as Adam Peaty and James Guy on Wednesday evening! She then competed her 3 events between Thursday and Saturday, with her times being close to her PB’s, finishing higher than her entry seeding in all events.

Maddy’s events started later in the week, but with the worsening weather, her journey to Edinburgh did not go according to plan. Her train stopped at Newcastle and despite all efforts by her desperate Dad to fly, drive or get a train up to Edinburgh, they remained in Newcastle until Saturday. Maddy missed her best ranked event (100m breaststroke) and they had decided to head back to London when their hotel offered them a shared minivan to Edinburgh. Arriving after warm up and just an hour before the 200 breaststroke, Maddy valiantly swam the event even being mentioned by the commentators for her tenacity and determination! She was then able to compete the 50m breaststroke the following day swimming again not far off her personal best.

Head coach Matt Smithurst said:

‘’It was a massive achievement for Zoë and Maddy at their young age to qualify for so many events at the British championships. With the significant challenges brought by the weather, I am really proud of how both girls handled the pressure and how well they raced. This experience will be invaluable in the years to come’’

The 2018 Kent County Swimming championships concluded in fine style at the Olympic pool based in the London Aquatic Centre at the weekend where Sevenoaks Swimmers were crowned the top Kent Swimming club having won the greatest amount of points for both girl and boy swimmers throughout the four weeks of the Championships.

Once more the Sevenoaks swimmers proved their brilliance by producing some outstanding racing.

First up on the agenda early Saturday morning was the boys 200m Individual Medley. In the 14 year old age group, Louis Hayes won Gold with 6th going to Jacob Hudson. Shortly after, an abundance of 4th places were secured by Ellis Stanhope (16) Aiden McMillan (15) and Oliver Dennis (11). Caiden Hibbert (13), Jacob Hudson and Oscar Wilson followed with 6th places and Eddie Hammond in 7th and Jaedon Lynch in 8th. Macauley Johnston, Noah Enticknap, Euan Terry, Robert Allen and Chris Lee also put in some superb performances.

In the girls 50m backstroke, the heats and finals were awash with Sevenoaks talent. Jessica Harmer kicked off with a Gold in the 10/11 yrs shortly followed by an amazing 12 yrs final, with Eva Okaro winning Gold and twin sister Izabella winning Bronze, Millie Armstrong 4th and Emily Brown 5th. Millie Childs (14) and Elspeth Watson (13) both won Silvers with Imogen Stoddart bringing home the Bronze in the 13 yrs. Amy Farthing (20) won 4th while Ellie Vowell and Emma Evans-Wilson both gained 5th places with Daisy Widdowson swimming well for 6th and Maddie Glen 8th. In the Open final only Millie Childs (13) qualified with a much older field and finished super 8th.

Next it was time for the boys to shine in the Butterfly 50m sprints. Making the finals in the over 17 yrs was Chris Cheng who secured a Bronze and a place in the Open finals, a feat replicated by Louis Hayes by winning the Gold in the 14 yrs. Nathan Rodrigues managed a Bronze in the 16yrs. Aiden McMillan produced arguably the swim of the morning. Ranked 3rd in the final he executed a fantastic race to finish in first and win a hugely deserved Gold medal. Ben Strebel & Jaedon Lynch swam hard for 5th & 8th place. There were also super swims from Stephen Weller, Chris Lee and George Tyler (17), Ellis Stanhope, Ethan Hunter, Teddy Wallace and Dom Percy (16), Oscar Wilson, Eddie Hamond, Robert Allen and Torsten Mangat (15), Zach Raymond, Euan Terry, Jacob Hudson and Dillon Bentley (14), Caiden Hibbert, Noah Enticknap and Tom Creasey (13) Macauley Johnston, Josh Wood, Max Cooper and William Jarrett (12) and Jonathan Vowell (11).

In the Open final Chris Cheng managed credible 4th and Louis finished in 8th.

The afternoon saw a swathe of Sevenoaks swimmers back on the podium with the boys 50m Breaststroke. Albert Whitlock, Jaedon Lynch, Louis Hayes, Jacob Hudson, Oscar Wilson, Dom Percy and Stephen Weller stormed into the finals. Albert swam a strong race and secured the Bronze in the 11yrs to start proceedings. Jaedon followed and was on a roll, clinching his second Gold of the day. 14yr olds Louis and Jacob went off head to head, this time with Louis also winning his second Gold and Jacob finishing well for Silver. In the 16 yrs Dom Percy fought tough opposition and managed a great 6th while Oscar secured a superb Bronze in the 15 yrs. Finally, Stephen Weller swam well for 7th place. In the heats the following swam well for some excellent PB’s: George Tyler (17) Ethan Hunter (16), Robert Allen, Eddie Hammond, Aiden McMillan & Torsten Mangat (15), Ben Strebel & Euan Terry (14), Caiden Hibbert, Tom Creasey, Thiago Gentles & Noah Enticknap (13) & Osh Crombie & Zac Howard (12) and finally Devon Tannock, Johnny Vowell & Zach Loder (11),

The final event of the day saw the girls return to the pool with the super exciting 50m Freestyle sprints. All these outstanding girls managed to either hit or better their respective PB’s in every race... a feat not previous witnessed by any Sevenoaks coach.

Sunday witnessed the last day of the 2018 Championships with the results produced by Sevenoaks again being excellent:

In the girls 11 yrs 200m Individual Medley, Eva Okaro added another Gold to her collection with sister Izabella adding another Silver. Jessica Harmer also won a Silver in the 11 yrs along with Elspeth Watson in the 14 yrs. Amy Farthing, Alyze Gentles, Imogen Stoddart and Maddie Glen winning Bronze medals in the respective age groups added to the medal tally along with Millie Childs grabbing 4th and Millie Armstrong a 5th. Jasmine Wallace produced a storming swim to win a 6th in the 15 yrs and Sarah Williams and Abigail Saunders winning 8th places saw Sevenoaks rising in the table of top overall club. Other swimmers who produced fabulous swims were: Emily Brown, Martha Roberts, Hollie Gushlow, Katie Vowell, Megan Marter, and Aoife Lauerman.

The boys were focussed on the 50m backstroke. There was no surprise when Louis Hayes won Gold in the 14-year event. Ethan Hunter, Ellis Stanhope and Nathaniel Rodrigues all qualified for the final in the 16 yrs where all 3 boys swam superbly - Ethan secured the Bronze, Nathan 5th and Ellis 6th. Oliver Dennis was on fine form and grabbed another Gold in the 11 yrs with Devon Tannock finishing in 7th. Also managing 7th places were Caiden Hibbert and Robert Allen. Joseph Box finished off the medals in the backstroke with a fine Bronze in the 12 years. The heats produced some wonderful PBs from Jonathan Vowell & Alex Evans-Wilson (11), Albert Whitlock & Macaulay Johnston (12), Tom Creasey, Noah Enticknap, Jaedon Lynch and James Fry (13) Ben Strebel, Zac Raymond, Euan Terry, Dillon Bentley and Jacob Hudson (14) Eddie Hammond, Torsten Mangat & Aiden McMillan (15), and Chris Lee (17).

In the afternoon the 50m Breaststroke for the girls featured some wonderful racing. In the 13 yrs, four girls made the finals and finished in a spectacular 1,2,3, for Sevenoaks: Imogen Stoddart winning Gold, Kara Dimond Silver and Holli Gushlow the Bronze, while in the 12yrs another 4 girls made the finals: Eva winning her final Gold of the championships, Emily Brown the Silver with Izabella Okaro and Martha Roberts finishing in 6th and 7th respectively. Jessica won her final Gold in the 10/11 yrs with Alyze finishing in 6th and Abigail in 7th. Maddie Glen gained another well-deserved Gold in the 15 yrs with Ellie Vowell finishing strongly for Silver and Issy Tyler a great 7th. In the 14 yrs both Megan Marter and Ruby Jarrett finished well for 5th and 7th with Amy Farthing finishing her Kents in a fine 6th in the 17& overs. In the heats the girls showed strength in depth with Poppy Homes and Sarah Williams (16) Olivia Chapman and Jasmine Wallace (15) Katie Vowell, Daisy Widdowson & Millie Childs (14), Betty Simpson (13) Rosie Deacon, Daisy McMillan, Rosie Lauerman, Sami Das and Millie Armstrong (12) and Fern Gray (11) swimming brilliantly in the heats.

Finally finishing the Championships, the boys 50m freestyle saw Nathaniel Rodrigues (16) take Gold and qualify for the Open final in which he finished a fine 8th. Louis Hayes finished his Kents with yet another Gold and Stephen Weller finished with a Bronze medal in the 17 yrs & over and secured a place in the Open final where he went one better and finished with an amazing Silver. Joseph Box and Zach Raymond also added to the medals with both swimming great races to win Bronze in their age groups. Eddie Hammond won a fine 5th as did Jaedon Lynch. Ellis Stanhope and Tom Creasey fought hard for 6th. Great swims were also posted by George Tyler, Chris Lee, Ethan Hunter, Teddy Wallace, Dom Percy, Oscar Wilson, Aiden McMillan, & Robert Allen, as well as Euan Terry, Ben Strebel, Dillon Bentley, Caiden Hibbert, Noah Enticknap, James Fry and Albert Whitlock.

This brought an end to a hugely successful Kent Championships. Sevenoaks swimmers should be justifiably proud of their achievements, winning a magnificent 54 Gold, 43 Silver and 43 Bronze and 197 finalist places.

Huge thanks to Kent swimming for their dedication to such a superb event and to the coaches, officials, helpers and parents for their hard work and continuous support.

The penultimate weekend of the Kent County Championships proved to be another huge success with a plethora of medals for swimmers from Sevenoaks SC. Crystal Palace was again the venue for the weekend with the Boys backstroke and freestyle and Girls’ breaststroke and fly being the focus.

In the girls 100m butterfly, the 10/11 heats witnessed super swims from Alyze Gentles, Abigail Saunders, Valentina Groves and Fern Gray. Another event couldn’t finish without the Okaro twins on the podium with Izabella winning Bronze and Eva another Gold with Millie Armstrong, the 3rd of our finalists, swimming well well to finish 6th. Elspeth proved herself a formidable Fly swimmer, repeating her performance of last year by winning Gold in the 13 yrs. Shortly followed by Lillie Chambers and Katie Vowell winning 5th & 8th respectively in the 14 yrs.

The boys were focussed on the 200m backstroke where medal success was forthcoming in the 14-year-old category with Louis Hayes and 11 yr old Oliver Dennis securing Gold with Ethan Hunter coming in 4th place in the 16yrs following a gutsy swim. Jonny Vowell (11) pulled out all the stops for 5th place with Caiden Hibbert (13) swimming hard for 6th. Both Tom Creasey (13) and Robert Allen fought hard for 7th places in the age groups. Super times were also posted by Chris Lee, Aiden McMillan, Ollie Coote, Ben Strebel, Euan Terry, & Macauley Johnston in their respective age groups.

In the second session of the day it was the turn of the boys 100m backstroke and kicking off the medals again was Oliver Dennis (11) and Louis Hayes (14) both storming to their Gold medal positions. Back fighting out for places in the 10/11 yrs were Devon Tannock and Jonny Vowell with the former gaining 5th and the latter 6th. 16 yr old Ethan Hunter bagged another 4th place with Zac Raymond (14) finishing in 5th. Robert Allen and Caiden Hibbert finished the boy’s success with an 8th place a piece. There were some fabulous swims in the heats from Macauley Johnston (12), Tom Creasey, Noah Enticknap & Jaedon Lynch (13), Ben Strebel, Euan Terry & Jacob Hudson (14) Aiden McMillan & Eddie Hamond (15), Ben Channon (16) and Chris Lee (17)

In the final event of the Saturday the girls participated in the gruelling 200m butterfly. Top swim of the day in this event went to Elspeth Watson (13) who once again secured another Gold medal. Tiny Valentina Groves (11) grew in stature to bag a magnificent Bronze with Holli Gushlow (13) storming to 4th. Aoife Lauerman and Amy Farthing (17) finished in 6th with Lillie Chambers (14) in 7TH.

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Sunday at a packed Palace again saw an abundance of excellent swims and times posted by the team from Sevenoaks.

Racing in the 200m freestyle, the boys were determined not to be outdone by their female teammates.

The afternoon session was again awash with excellent swimming, times and effort from the Sevenoaks competitors.

The boy’s 100m freestyle final event in the 14 yrs saw 3 Sevenoaks swimmers make the final, Hayes & Strebel coming 1st & 5th respectively with a great effort also being made by Zac Raymond coming 7th. Ellis Stanhope stormed home to a fine Silver in the 16 yrs with Oliver Dennis (11) & Joseph Box (12) finishing well for 5th places. Tom Creasey and Jaedon Lynch battled it out in the 13 yrs with Creasey finishing in 6th and Lynch in 7th. Eddie Hammond was the only 15yr old finalist and swam well for 6th place.

Final races of the day saw the girls back in the pool for the punishing 200 breast, arguably the toughest race, not that it bothered the girls… Eva was back on the podium joined by Holli Gushlow (13) to collect their Gold medals joined by Abigail Saunders (11) and Sarah Williams (16) both winning fantastic Silvers. Maddie Glen and Imogen Stoddart stormed home for their Bronze medals and Amy finished in 4th. Izabella Okaro added more medals to her growing collection by finishing in 5th, a feat replicated by Alyze Gentles. Both Katie Vowell and Kara Dimond swam strong races for 6th and 7th respectively and Martha Roberts (12) showed her strength for an 8th place.